THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, MARCH 6, 1910.
EZRA MEEKER PLANS FINAL JOURNEY
OVER 2200 MILES OF OREGON TRAIL
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t liZRi MI'HOKKR AND OI7TKIT IV WHICH HE "WIIL. FOLLOW OI,I ORKGO TRAIL. I
I
SEATTLE, March 5. (Special) Ezra
Meeker's famous oxen, Dave and
: Andy, are now due to arrive at
The Dalles for their forthcoming trip
over the old Oregon trail. They have
pent the Winter in California, and are
in prime condition. Mr. Meeker Is in
formed, for their 2200-mile journey to
the junction of the Kaw and the Mis
souri. Dave made the transcontinental
journey four years ago. He now -weighs
2125 pounds, and Is almost twice as
large as when Meeker drove him across
the plains. Andy was driven from
Omaha, Meeker's other oxen having
died at that point. He weighs 1320
pounds. .
"I expect to start from The Dalles
March 15," said Mr. Meeker today, "and
1 will reach Kansas City in about six
months. My equipment nvill be the
pame an that used during my expedi
tion of 1906. The vehicle is a replica
.-f the old-time wagon, with box fitted
for fording the streams. The hub of
one of the wheels came from a wagon
that was driven across the plains in
1S53.
"The trip, which will cost about
$6000. in Intended primarily to mark
the trail throughout its length. In
1906 I gave my attention principally
to granite monuments in towns, but
now I plan to indicate the trail con
tinuously, and to set posts at points
suitable for permanent monuments or
markers. I will collect data as to num
ber and location of monuments re
quired, and submit a report to the Sec
retary of War. in expectation that as
SAN FRANCISCO PAPERS STRUGGLE
TO SOLVE CRYPTOGRAM MYSTERY
Peculiar Advertisements Are Found to Refer to Graft Cases
Angeles Lawyer Who Defended Oalhoun-
BT HAP.TtT B. SMITH.
SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., March 6.
(Special.) The great cryptogram
mystery. Involving the graft cases
has been one of the subjects that has
come prominently before the attention of
the public the last few days, and no one
knows where it will all wind up. One
newspaper sprang the story a few days
alnce, and the other San Francisco
papers have treated it one way or the
other, according to their policy.
The cryptogram mystery is somewhat
of an involved story. It consisted of a
number of wlerd advertisements that ap-
peared. from time to time in the personal
columns of the San Francisco Examiner
about a year and a half ago. Using as
a key the firpt letter of each word in the
advertisement and following the various
ads. they brought about startling results.
One of them, translated, read:
"'His conviction necessary. Atiother
magazine similarly marked same place in
hotel. Full instructions."
And there were others as follows:
"Holzberg bias."
"Tell him that if jwry don't lanl Cal
houn, a bomb will."
"Have court include special list in third
venire "
Just 4 6 Cryptograms.
These cryptograms, which number 46,
permeate nearly all of the ramifications
of the graft cases.- From the dynamiting
of Gallagher's house to the suicide of S.
P. Flynn, historian of the prosecution,
there is . scarcely a phase that is not
dragged into the hidden messages.
Threats against the life of Calhoun are
mingled with communications that appear
to relate to the death of Chief of Police
iBiggy. The whole eeries, together with
translations and the events that were con
current, form one of the most interesting
and fascinating studies in Intrigue that
history records.
The names of persons prominently as
sociated with the defense, and the prose
cution, are made use of. Even the name
of the Court is dragged into the cryptograms.-
Behind it all appears a secret
cabal that has never been known, but
that has frequently been suspected.
This information has been placed in the
hands, of District Attorney Fickert and
he will ask the grand jury to investigate
nd report on the matter.
Came From Ijos Angeles.
It appears that the advertisements con
taining the cryptograms were sent from
Los' Angeles to the San Francisco Ex
aminer. A man in Los Angeles unknown,
except hi' , name, nogotiated over ' the
telephone with the business manager of
the Los Angeles Examiner, for the inser
tion of the ads. He sent them ' to the
Los1" AnCeles office by mall, accompanied
with money to pay for them and they
were transmitted, by ; telegraph. He
seemed anxious to see that there were no
mistakes made . in printing them. They
continued at intervals for several months
and finally, the San Francisco Examiner,
becoming suspicious, changed the reading
of one of the ads. No protest was re
ceived, but the ads stopped suddenly.
In the meantime, some student of
secret messages had figured out their im
port. He took the proposition to Cal
nonn and the latter set his detectives at
work to unravel the tangle. The Exam
iner, scenting a story, had one of its re
porters at work in Los Angeles for three
weeks but could not land. At the time of
the political campaign, it was hinted to
Heney that the story would be used and !
he told the Examiner to go ahead and
use it. For som reasoif. possibly be
cause it was afraid that the story would
act .as a boomerang, the Examiner sup
pressed it.
Since -the election of Fickert aa Dis
soon as Congress makes an appropria
tion, the work I have begun may pro
ceed officially." , -
Meeker, who is in his eightieth year,
looks forward eagerly to this final
journey across the plains. One of the
results he hopes to accomplish is to
arouse public sentiment to the point
where Congress will pass the bill now
pending appropriating $50. "00 for the
trail and authorizing the President to
appoint a commissioner to supervise
the erection of monuments and markers:-and
the final result. Meeker thinks,
will be the establishment of a National
highway along he Oregon trail.
Meeker first crossed the plains when
22 years old. in 1852. "The route I
shall retrace," he says, "is that taken
by the immigrant trains beginning
with 1843. We gathered on the east
side of the Kaw River, at a point that
is now in the outskirts of Kansas City.
We journeyed 300 miles northwesterly
to the Platte, skirted the south side
of that river and reached Fort Laramie.
"We crossed the north fork, and fol
lowed it' into the Black Hills, and then
went along the Sweetwater to the
South Pass.
"From the heart of the Rockies we
journeyed down the Little and the Big
Sandy, then down the Green River, and
crossed the divide to Bear River, and
then northwesterly into the valley of
the Port Neuf, arid down that river to
the Snake, passing old Fort Hall in
the angle -formed by those water
courses. At Old Fort Boise began the
most difficult part of the trip, and we
plunged successively into the Powder,
the Burnt and the Grand Konde; then
across the Blue Mountains to the pres
trict Attorney, it was decided to take
the matter up with the grand jury, and
that was the reason for breaking the
story.
Motives Are Xot -'Known.
The motive of the originator of the
scheme is far more mysterious than his
cryptograms. William J. Burns has as
serted that he traced the messages to At
torney Earl Rogers, of Los Angeles, who
was associated- with the defense. Cal
houn denies this, but says he has no idea
who could have been responsible. How
ever, that may be, the story has fur
nished food for plenty of gossip, particu
larly as the Calhoun trial must soon
come up.
In reference to the Calhoun case,
Fickert has broken loose another story.
According to a statement he issued re
cently, a friend of "Big Jim" Sallagher,
the chief witness for the prosecution,
declared - before his disappearance, that
the prosecution wanted him out of the
way in order to make it embarrassing for
the new District Attorney. Fickert has
promised also to take up this matter with
tlie grand Jury to inquire more definitely
about Gallagher and his movements.
K ecu Us Old-Time Banquet.
The other night "Jerry" Mahoney gave
his brother, "Johnny" Mahoney, a ban
quet prior to the latter' departure for
Europe to see the world. This banquet
recalled the one given by Johnny to
Jerry 19 years.ago, when It was the lat
ter who was setting out upon his travels.
The old banquet was a famous feast.
There were 24 guests and a hack was.
ordered for each guest when It came
time to go home. The recent banquet
was no such ele.oorate affair, although it
was sumptuous enough. But there were
only eight at the table, instead of 21, and
John Keefe, the famous decorator, was
the only one of the guests of the ban
quet of 19 years ago to sit down to the
one of the latter day. Most of the other
guests have passed on.
These Mahoney brothers, have con
structed $15,000,000 worth of buildings
since the great fire end they still have
their hands f.ull, including in their pres
ent labors the Hearst building. Just be
ginning at Third and Market streets. 'So
they can well afford to give big banquets
and to travel widely.
Chinese Drink. Champagne. . .
It may be a surprise-to many to learn,
that the members of the local Chinese
colony are great drinkers of champagne;
yet such is the casf. San Francisco's
Chinatown is unique in its constant mani
festations ot the adaptability of the Chi
nese to Occidental habits.
Their very latest fad is the cultivation
of the champagne habit. Favored white
visitors to Chinatown during the recent
New Year's celebration, were amazed
to find the merchants quaffing the best
brands of French champagne and puffing
the best Havana cigars. It is said that
more champagne' was consumed during
the recent New Year's in Chinatown than
at the Portola and Mardi Gras mas
querades combined.
New Scheme for Money.
An ingenious scheme for raising money,
originated by a woman named Mrs.
Scott, was recently nipped in the bud by
the San Francisco police. Mrs. Scott,
whose name before her last marriage was
Mrs. Benson, decided that she and her
five small children needed some funds.
Accordingly she decided upon a benefit
ball and in her ' capacity as Mrs. v Scott
went around the city selling tickets for
a ball that was to be given for the bene
fit of Mrs. Benson. Somehow, nobody
has learned just the method, the police
became aware of the plan and ruthlessly
ent site of Pendleton, and ion to Walla
Walia and Wallula. and finally , down
the south side of the Columbia to The
Dalles.
"I intend to mark prominent cross
ings, such as the Kaw. Big Blue and
Little Blue, south fork of the Platte,
the five crossings of the Sweetwater,
Little Sandy and Big Sandy. Bear RH-er.
particularly the Great Bend, where the
California trail branched from the Ore
won trail; the Port Neuf River, Salmon,
two crossings of the Boise, two of
the Snake, Burnt River, the Powder,
Umatilla, Walla Walla, Deschutes and
John Day.
"Then there are nota-ble divides,
such as the south pass of the Rookies
and the Blue Mountains. There are
old posts like Fort Laramie, Fort Hall,
Fort Boise, Wallula and The Dalies;
and finally there are natural objects
such as Independence Rock, Scott's
Bluffs, Salmon Falls, Soda Springs,
Courthouse Rock and Chimney Rock.
"By the time my work is finished I
hope to have sufficient data to launch
the work to its final completion. While
the bill in Congress, which is before
the Senate committee on military af
fairs and the House commitee on li
brary, appropriates $50,000 for monu
ments and provides for the appoint
ment of a commissioner to locate them,
it also contains a provision that no
part of the money shall be spent until
the Secretary of War is satisfied that
sufficient additional money is available,
without further appropriations."
Mr. Meeker is in. robust health for
an octogenarian, and has no misgivings
whatever about the success of his expedition.
-Detective Burns Declares They Originated With Los
-District Attorney Will Investigate.
took from the lady $375 which she had
secured for tickets. Which goes to show,
if nothing else, how easy it Is to get
money out of the average San Fran
ciscan. Racy Divorce Gossip.
The most surprised man in San Fran
cisco is Walter A. McCreery, son of the
shrewd and very rich Andrew B. Mc
Creery, who has not yet recovered from
the fright Walter Hobart caused him
one night at the Burlingame Club when
he rode one of his polo ponies upstairs
and right into the sleeping rooms of the
millionaire. The young McCreery did
not expect for a moment that his wife
would come all the way out here to fight
the divorce suit he filed in this city last
November. But she's here with a chip,
on her shoulder.
The husband sent D. M. Delmas all the
way' to London several months , ago to
effect a compromise, but It could not be
brought about. She would not settle on
his terms and now she is here to battle
for what she considers her rights, The
husband charges the wife with objec
tionable habits in the way .of excessive
cigarette smoking and untidiness as a
housekeeper - and with having ,had him
restrained of his liberty for seven months
on the ground that he was insane.
The lady admits that she smokes, but
say 8 that she does not do so excessively.
Mrs. McCreery may have to battle le
gally for her four children and a liberal
allowance, and it is whispered that some
racy testimony will be forthcoming for
the edification of the smart set.
After Easter, on the occasion of the
wedding of Edward Cudahy, or Omaha,
and Miss Nora Brewer, of San Mateo,
one of the belles of Omaha' will be pres
ent. She is Miss Jean Cudahy, a sister
of the prospective groom and of Mrs. J.
B. Casserly, of Burlingame. She comes
heralded to local and Burlingame society
as a. pretty brunette with a wealth of
black hair. It is said also that she has
won many silver cups as a golf and ten
nis player.
INJURED GIRL MADE HAPPY
Aged' Parents AVill ..qet $i2,000
Awarded by Court.
CHICAGO, . March 5. (.Special.) Vol
berg Bernadotte, a maid employed in the
home of Attorney Malcomb B. Sterrett,
Evanston, was awarded a verdict of J12,
B00 damages against the Chicago Consoli
dated Traction Company,' as a result of
Injuries sustained three years argo, by a
jury in Municipal Judge Eberhardt's
court yesterday.
With the money the girl, who is per
manently injured Internally, will go to
Sweden and visit her parents. While there
she will provide for them in their oid
age. It was with the idea in mind of
placing her parents in affluence that Miss
Bernadotte left her home in the old coun
try six years ago to come to the United
States. '
The employer of Miss Bernadotte, At
torney Sterrett, fought the case for her
in the courts.
"When I left my father and mother in
Sweden to come to the TTnited States my
-dream was that I would make lots of
money and would be able to make them
care free and happy in their old age,"
said the girl. "I am not worrying be
cause I have to suffer for the rest of my
life. When my injuries pain me 1 think
of the happiness I can now bring to my
parents and. then I don't mind them so
much." " .
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Spring Opening Display in Ladies' Department
Your inspection of our new stock of Ladies' Spring Apparel is cordially welcome.. Easter comes early and
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SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA GIVES
WAY TO QUICK ACTION PLAYS
Popular Demand Now for Tense and Sadden Situations, So Plot May Be Made More Direct Prancis Wilson
Pleads for Retention of Children on Stage,
NEW YORK. March 5. (Special.)
Along with Lent come the Shakes
peare revivals. New York 'is having
two series just now, to say naught of
performances hgre and there of Shakes
pearean playw in the New Theater. The
Ben Greet players are. at the Garden
Theater, and Sothern and . Marlowe are
making Shakespeare revivals at the
Academy of Music. ,
These enterprises aie, of course, on
the responsibility of the actors them
selves, - because there are not-many im
preesarios" wh would undertake to pre
sent Shakespeare . in a day of this kind.
Shakespeare has literary qualities as
dear to the intellectual thinker today aa
ever, but audiences' are not made up of
these mind and even the people intellec
tually equal to the , enjoyment of a
Shakespearean performance have practi
cally used up all of these faculties during
the day's labors.
This line of thought leads very natural
ly to a calm survey of the stage. In gen
eral, of the present day, and it cannot
be doubted that it is not very creditable.
The day is not far away when there will
be a more general recognition of the
strength of the dramatic element In life.
The dramatic element does not necessarily
mean the stage and the stage does not
necessarily receive what it should of the
dramatic element. To go further back
than the stage, we must strike at the
schools, and it is a significant fact that
all the great educators of today are
studying ways , and means to change
methods of instruction In the institutions
fef learnings, beginning with the public
school system.
There is a tendency on the part of well
known teachers of children to give more
consideration to the results of visualis
If you have in mind this -Spring a new rug for your liviug
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But the marvel of these rugs is the ingenious blending of
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Several patterns, including the one
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MONDAY ONLY No phone or
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VTUlEnEZ iiSFO
EAST BURNSIDE AND UNION AVENUE
ing. This actually means to enhance the
dramatic element, which the memory will
retain, although it might refuse-to hold
simple facts, the essence of which never
penetrate. Reduced to its final analysis,
the absorbing interest must lie with that
side which touches the emotions, which
deals with action, which produces vital
principals; and it must be done so simply
and so naturally that it does not take a
philosopher and a student to compre
hend, appreciate and enjoy.
If we may contrast the play destined
for a succea in the present day with the
great masterpieces of classical literature,
we may find that everything depends
upon strong, quick action, which in the
moment expresses emotionally and intel
lectually what formerly was presented
by means of quiet, beautiful and lengthy
phrases. It were hardly fair to say that
the literary value is any the less pro
nounced, but we must recognize that the.
day brings forth its own idiom of ex
pression. This is a day of specialization,
and a great play might be written around
one detail of a problem. In this has Ib
sen torn away a following of . Shake
speare and. although the great Norwe
gian may not be, or is not generally ac
cepted as a model, he Is the creation of
the day. the spirit of the times.
We often flay that literature is more
grewsome today than it was yesterday.
This is entirely untrue. The grewsome
ness of yesterday's plays came in & ve
hlclo so wordy and so gradual that the
honor was already passed before the
actual presentation of the matter. Today
it strikes out of a clear sky, it comes sud
denly, nakedly, and it rings true. No
lews ft. writer than Goethe foretold the
conflict between specialization, and gen
eralization. "Many-sidedness," says Goethe, "pre
$ T .5Q
pares only the element in which the one
sided can work. Now is the time for
the one-sided; well for him who compre
hends It and who works for himself and
others in this spirit." It lias taken many
years for this prediction to manifest
itself and In its manifestation we realize
that things are resolved to a process of
elimination.
Eugene Walters in his new play, "Just
a Wife," has given to the hero words to
the effect hat everything in life is a
process of elimination, and this holds
good In business circles as in social ones.
So far as things or people ere useful they
may be carried and retained, but so soon
as they become Impediments they must
be swept away to make room for new
conditions which have become necessary
In the march onward.
So it is with Shakespearean drama. It
must always be held in reverence and it
will always remain the noblest of the
noble expressions of the art of literature;
but the day for general appreciation is
passing, and each season when we most
hope that the pendulum will swing back
be realize that it has not yet swung its
lengthen the other direction.
Francis Wilson's play, "The Bachelor's
Babj-." has brought about not alone a
discussion, but a series of discussions
.concerning children on the stage. There
has perhaps-never been a more powerful
appeal than that made by Mr. Wilson
himself, who holds rliat it Is a grave re
sponsibility for people to prevent children
from acting. These are his own words
in the matter.
"I was a child actor myself. I be
lieve in the staRe as the place where
children with dramatic talent should
be trained. With the best intentions
I forbade rrfy daughter to appear on
the stage until she was 18. I believe
M
Your Credit
Is Good
at Gevurtz
that I have unwittingly done her a
wrong and perhaps inflicted an ir
reparable injury to her dramatic ca
reer. If I had it to do over again I
should allow her to appear as a child.
"We should protect and safeguard
the child actor. Those who would for
bid his appearance by law assume a,
grave responsibility. I might call it
criminal, because there is no crime
so fatal to its victims as the starving'
of a child's development. The child
actor is in reality the victim of the
laws which prohibit his appearance before
an audience.
"Let us iook at the facts. Who would
advocate a law prohibiting children with
musical gifts from playing the piano,
children with artistic talents from using
a drawing pencil, children with literary
giftsfrom writing childish stories? Yet
it is as reasonable to do this as to legis
late the child from the stage. . An aud
ience is the actor's medium for obtaining
response. You can rehearse without an
audience, but cannot act without one. A
child that is forbidden to appear on the
stage w like the child that is forbidden
to use his piano or pencil or pen. He
can make no beginning in his art.
"If it is wrong to allow children to in
dulge their artistic talents, then all thesa
things should stand upon the Fame foot
ing. But experience and common rcn
have Btioyn us that it Is not wrong. We
know that to the child wh hs dramatic
talent acting is not an injurious toll, but
a delightful play. Worry and responsi
bility aro the things that kill, not' play
nor yet work that is happy and con
genial. The stage child is without self
consciousness and without responsibility.
He knows no worry, he experiences nc
strain. He only enjoys. And his dra
matic talents ripen with his experience
In obtaining " response from a publio
audience. Josef Hofman has said that
his years as a child prodigy in concert
performances were the happiest in hia
life; that the live years following, spent
in severe and unbroken study In Moscow,
were tragic and for a time they made
him hate music. One of the world's great
est musician was nearly lost to it b
the misguided interference of people who
thought that a child should not be al
lowed to appear in public." v
KM1IJE FRANCES BAUER.